ROCKLIN, Calif. – The Warriors of Lewis-Clark State Volleyball opened the 2022 season with an impressive offensive performance for a 3-1 victory (18-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-21) over the Warriors of William Jessup (Calif.). The LC Warriors hit .368 as a team and had three players with double-digit kills.
LC State bounced back to take sets two, three and four after falling in the opening frame.
Cassidy Nelson played a huge role on offense with seven kills through the first two sets, and
Grecia Ung Enriquez stepped up with six in the third set alone. Newcomer
Lisi Langi also provided firepower in her LC State debut with a team-best .533 attack percentage.
"William Jessup really came out firing on all cylinders and knocked us back on our heels, but I am proud of how we responded to the slow start," Head Coach
Shaun Pohlman said. "I feel this was a great opening match to really see what we are made of. We want our non-conference matches to make it clear on where we are, but more importantly what we need to work on to help us prepare for conference."
The first kill of the season came from Langi, on an assist from
Jennah Carpenter, to cut the WJU lead to 6-2. LC took advantage of Jessup errors before
Channa Hart and Nelson dished back-to-back kills to keep the deficit at three (9-6). Two more big swings by Nelson kept the margin at three, 12-9, in the first set.
Ung Enriquez put up the first LC State block of the season, and a service ace by Langi fueled a three-point run to bring the visiting Warriors within one at 17-16. A burst of momentum for WJU out of a timeout led to a 25-18 set victory for the hosting Warriors.
Nelson evened the second set 1-1 with a kill before dealing an assist to give LC State its first lead of the match. Back-to-back errors by WJU pushed the LC advantage to 4-2, and the first kill of
Juliauna Forgach Aguilar's career kept the LC Warriors in front 6-4. Forgach Aguilar, Nelson and Langi each added kills to push the advantage to 12-9, but WJU rebounded to take a 15-14 lead. A pair of kills by Forgach Aguilar tied the set before Langi put LC ahead 19-18.
An ace by Nelson capped a three-point stretch that increased the LC advantage to 21-18, and a kill by Ung Enriquez forced a WJU timeout at 22-19. Two Jessup service errors pushed the score to set point, and Nelson slammed down her seventh kill of the match to end the frame 25-21 and even the match.
Four kills by Ung Enriquez and a block by Hart and Langi gave LC a 6-3 lead to start the third set. After a surge by WJU to tie the frame 9-9, LC took advantage of a kill by Langi, ace by Nelson and block by
Jada Wyms and Hart to regain the momentum at 15-12.
Kenzie Dean served up an ace before a swing by Langi made it a 17-13 lead. An ace by Carpenter, kill by Ung Enriquez and block by Hart capped the five-point run at 21-13. Ung Enriquez and Nelson tallied two straight kills late in the set, and a swing by Hart made it 24-16. Wyms and Forgach Aguilar denied WJU at the net to end the set 25-17 and give LC State a 2-1 lead in the match.
Kills by Ung Enriquez and an ace by Dean gave LC an early 4-1 edge in the fourth frame. WJU rallied to even the set, but a pair of errors and another kill by Ung Enriquez put the visiting Warriors back in front 7-4. The two Warrior teams battled back and forth until Ung Enriquez, Dean and Hart added kills to make it 16-14 in favor of LC State. Hart scored back-to-back points for LC on a kill and a block to force WJU back to the bench at 18-16.
Esther Kailiponi assisted on a kill by Nelson to make it match point, 23-21, before a pair of WJU attack errors ended the set and match.
LC State finished the day with an impressive .368 attack percentage on 46 kills and 43 assists. Ung Enriquez led the way individually with 14 kills at a clip of .524. Nelson tallied 11 kills with a .381 attack percentage, and Langi added 10 with a team-leading .533 attack percentage. Kailiponi dished out 20 assists, Carpenter dealt 18 and Dean led the defense with 11 digs. Wyms, Langi and Hart each had three blocks.
The Warriors don't have much time to rest as they take on Pacific Union (Calif.) on Friday at 9:30 a.m., then continue the day with a match against Simpson (Calif.) at 2 p.m. in Angwin, Calif. LC will wrap up the road trip on Saturday with matches against Menlo (Calif.) and UC Merced in Atherton, Calif.
"We have a lot of games to play this weekend still," Pohlman said. "We are excited to implement the necessary adjustments in our upcoming matches."
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